Arkansas’ sales tax on most items increased by half a cent on Monday, bringing the effective sales tax rate for the city of Russellville to 9 percent.

The state’s sales tax increased to 6.5 percent under the temporary tax increase voters approved last year to raise $1.8 billion for the state’s roads and highways. The tax won’t apply to groceries, gasoline or medicine and will expire by 2023.

Pope County has an additional 1 percent sales tax, and Russellville has a 1.5 percent sales tax. Russellville’s tax rate is lower than Atkins’, which has a 2 percent city sales tax. Pottsville has a 1.5 percent sales tax and Dover has a 1 percent sales tax. Johnson and Yell counties each have a 1 percent sales tax. Within those counties, Clarksville has a 2 percent sales tax, Danville has a 1.5 percent sales tax and Dardanelle has a 2 percent sales tax.

The goal of the statewide tax that came into effect this week, backers say, is to chip away at a gap between the state’s road needs and the funding available. The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department says it has $23 billion in needs over the next decade, but only $6 billion in revenue — including the money expected from the tax increase.

“I think the voters recognized there’s a limited source of revenue for highways and this was one way to enhance it, so they supported it as I did,” Gov. Mike Beebe said last week.

But Beebe acknowledged that the tax hike is just a stopgap measure.

“Absent some kind of infrastructure program federally, the odds are it’s an uphill battle to find a long-term systemic solution to highway funding,” Beebe said.

The tax increase was one of the top recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance, which was formed to study ways to increase funding for the state’s roads.

Highway supporters say they haven’t given up on a more controversial recommendation from the panel to divert sales tax revenue from road-related items such as car sales and vehicle parts to the state’s highway program. They argue that the per-gallon gas tax that primarily pays for Arkansas’ roads is an inadequate funding source, with revenues declining as vehicles’ gas mileage improves over time.

Rep. Jonathan Barnett, a former member of the state highway commission, said shifting that revenue is the only long-term solution left for addressing the widening gap in funding for state roads.

“We know what we need to do,” said Barnett, R-Siloam Springs. “We’re going to have to get into future revenue growth and any sensible person who has studied highway financing knows we’ve got to get into future revenue growth.”

Beebe, who leaves office in 2015, said he remains philosophically opposed to transferring general revenue to highways.

“You’ve always got more needs than you’ve got resources for in general revenue, the chief of which is obviously education,” Beebe said.

Barnett, who is term-limited and can’t run for re-election next year, said he plans to continue pushing for the idea after he leaves office and said it may eventually take a group referring it to voters as a ballot measure.

He’ll have allies among the state’s top highway officials, who say they still see the transfer as the best option for addressing the funding deficit.